filters, new WWW site, September runs

[richmond@astro.Princeton.EDU]

  Chris asked about the cost filters for the TASS Mark III cameras.
I purchased the first set of V and I filters (using money kindly
supplied by Bohdan Paczynski) from
   
             Omega Optical
             3 Grove St.
             PO Box 573
             Brattleboro, VT 05301
             (802) 254-2690
             attn: Calvin Grandy

On March 14, 1997, I received a price quotation of $200 each for
filters in the 50mm x 50mm square size, suitable for the Mark IV.
The Mark III can take smaller filters, 25mm diameter circles.
Back in June, 1996, the price was roughly $2000 for a bulk purchase
of about 25 such small filters.

  In other news, I've moved into my new home in Rochester, and have
set up the computer in my office at RIT to be the new TASS WWW site --
but I'll make the switch gradually.  

   old URL:  http://www.astro.princeton.edu/~richmond/tass/tass.html
                   will still work until Sept 15 or so

   new URL:  http://p674p06.isc.rit.edu/tass/tass.html
                   currently unstable, work in progress

  I'm making some changes to the TASS WWW pages, which include
  
     a. getting rid of dead links and obsolete material
     b. changing to an automatic E-mail archiver (MHonArc),
           so that I don't have to spend an hour a day adding
           new HTML to the archive file by hand (ugh)

  The new site will also serve as the central database for all 
TASS data, I hope.  I have 2+ GB in a partition just waiting for
all the data from the cameras.  I still need to set up the database
software (Chris A, I'll be in touch with you soon!), but I think
I can manage that by Sept 1.  I hope that we can start putting 
data into the archive in just a week or two.

  I will try to install RT Linux on this machine, too, so that
I can monitor the observations at APL/JHU, or help them by serving
as a remote test site.  

  Eventually, the Vermont triplet may move here, at least temporarily.
But not in the next month or two.

  Finally, let me put in a very slightly dissenting note: Arne
asked in a message today:

> That is, with all 3 cameras pointed in the same direction
> and with VRI filters instead of IVI. 

  I think that the extra capabilities of having the 3 lenses pointed
one hour apart in RA -- having 3 measurements of position an hour apart,
and 2 of brightness in I-band on the same night -- outweigh the
disadvantages of not looking simultaneously with all 3 lenses at
the same area.  Plus, it's a whole lot easier to leave them as
they are than to re-build the camera body :-)

                               Michael Richmond